The ABCD Project covers “Pumped Up Kicks”

I love this acoustic cover of Foster The People’s song “Pumped Up Kicks.” There is something about it that feels very authentic.

I may be wrong, but the video feels like it was made by four friends who got together on the weekend, decided to jam, covered a popular song, and wound up inventing a new group named “The ABCD Project” — a name taken by combining the letters of the first names of each of the musicians.

Invention, inspiration, and new ideas are often found during unstructured moments of play and by remixing existing works and ideas. I think it is important to make time to “play” so that new ideas can be discovered and improvised.

For me, this video is exemplary of the environments and conditions that can contribute to the generation of new pieces of popular culture.